When the House Falls
by hariboo-smirks
Summary: It takes a moment to change it all. Sad DV that gets a reprieve towards the end.


A/N: I had a very weird, not so happy day and this came out, but as it progressed and I began watching season 10 again, it sorta got happier. Thanks to one word (well.. number)-200. And a majors thanks to Kales (sorrelrowan) for helping me cheat the system so I could post this hand over cookies

When The House Falls

When Daniel dies in battle with Adria, Vala feels it in every cell of her body. It's not because of the bond- that has been gone for months. It's because she feels her heart stop.

They go in a beam of light. Sam postulates that "The Others" intervened with Adria's attack against Daniel and Vala. It being against the "rules" and all. Vala could care less, she doesn't care that the others finally decided to help them out, all she wants is Daniel back.

It happened in the gateroom of all places. Adria just showed up and attacked. Daniel had pushed Vala out of the way, and the entire gateroom had begun firing. But Adria had been too strong and still had her tricks; the bullets never even reached her as she choked Daniel. Vala had tried to stop her, it had worked before, but now nothing stopped her daughter from slamming her into the wall.

Adria's eyes had burned with hatred.

Then a bright light engulfed the room and Daniel and Adria were gone. Vala had felt her heart stop and promptly fainted.

When she came to a day later, the whole team had been the room along with Jack. The first thing she asked for had been Daniel, she had hoped he had come back, but in her heart had known he hadn't. She had felt her heart break all over again. Still, there had been something else- it had been written all over their faces; from Sam's teary eyes to Jack's solemn look.

She had thought that it was something to the fact that when Adria had slammed her into the wall it had affected her in some fatal way and she was dying (and honestly some part of her wanted it to be true because what the point of her life without Daniel).

The answer had been worse than anything Vala could have imagined.

She was pregnant.

All of a sudden Adria's hatred was clear, and the reason for the attack revealed. Daniel had died protecting her and their child and Vala wished she had died with him.

- - - - - - (This was my original end point, but s10 & 200 + Memento Mori would not allow it) - - - - - - - -

The subsequent weeks after the attack were easily some of the hardest in Vala's life. Jack had tried to placate Vala's nerves by assuring her that Daniel didn't stay dead for long, and that he wouldn't miss out on being a dad. Sam had tried her best to help Vala with the transition and offered up her guest room- a good thing, since every time Vala set foot in her and Daniel's apartment she tended to breakdown. Vala had gratefully taken the offer, mostly because she couldn't stand being alone anymore, also Dr. Lam, Gen. Landry and Jack had practically ordered her too—they hadn't trusted her ability to take care of herself at the time (she wasn't sure they had been wrong to think that).

Taken from activity duty Vala ended up spending most of her time with Jack, who now spent a lot of time in Colorado Springs. They mostly just hung out at Sam's, watched The Simpson's, ate ice cream, and ordered pizza and Thai. Jack was good company and as he liked to remind her, had successful experience with pregnant women. He told her stories about Sara's pregnancy, about Daniel and even a few about his son. He rented her favorite movies (even bought her some), brought her books and magazines, he even gave her foot massages if she whined enough (once he had blushed when she had off-handedly mentioned Sam was lucky); he held her hair when the pickle/peanut butter/roast-beef/hollandaise and blue cheese sandwich disagreed with her, he held her hair when being pregnant disagreed with her, too. But most importantly he held her when the baby kicked for the first time and she had cried a storm and raged against the universe, even managed to break one of Sam's vases and a couple of plates. When Sam had gotten home that day and saw the left-over pieces of the vase in the trash, she just nodded to Jack and took over watching Vala's restless sleep.

The rest of the team was equally understanding and supportive. Mitchell suggested baby names and offered babysitting services, Teal'c was surprisingly protective of her, always keeping an eye on her, it was almost as if he was afraid she'd lose the baby if he wasn't watching over her. Gen. Landry made sure she knew her position was safe and bought her a cradle that he himself assembled. Still, none could give her what she wanted most- Daniel back.

- - - (Here is where I almost stopped, but decided to continue) - - - -

The day the baby was born part of Vala comes back to life. Sam was with her in the room and when her friend had handed over her baby boy she felt her heart beat again.

A boy. Daniel was father to a little boy.

Vala knows that he can see them, every once in a while she feels a warmth surrounding her and she knows its her Daniel- he's the only person she's ever felt that with. The day their son is born she can feel that warmth and she curses Daniel for not coming back to her.

She names her son Alexander Charles Jonathan Jackson Mal Duran. Teal'c smiles, Cam says it's a mouthful (mouthful of what she asks), Sam hugs her and Jack blushes and tears up a little (though he'll never admit that it).

She still lives with Sam and Jack, who has unofficially moved in.

When she gets off maternity leave she goes back to work. She rejoins the fight. She has something to protect. She leaves Alex with Jack, she knows her son is safe with his godfather.

When Alex is two the war ends. The final battle ends up happening on Earth.

Adria shows up again and tries to kill her mother and brother. Again she is stopped; Daniel once again intervenes.

It ends and they're all alive. Vala walks up to Daniel and slaps him before she falls into his arms. He explains his reason for staying Ascended for so long. All very good reasons, but Vala can't bring herself to care.

Alexander immediately recognizes his father; he's known him his whole life from pictures, stories and to Vala's surprise- dreams. Huh. Interesting.

It's not easy. They don't fall back into each other and move back in together. A lot has changed, and honestly Vala is reluctant to leave Sam, Jack and the comfort zone they provide. She needs to go slow, get used to having Daniel around again.

Slow ends up being six weeks-- two weeks longer than she had given herself; she was never able to stay away from Daniel for too long (at least, not willingly).

Their rhythm is different, but the same. Vala's been a mother, a mom, for two years and Daniel is learning to be a dad. They've both changed but not so much so that they feel like strangers; they both think that impossible anyway. They still bicker and the looks they give each other could still set the SGC on fire.

She's grown so much while he's been gone and Daniel thinks that he could spend the rest of his life watching her and Alex.

He plans to.


End file.
